Iniesta as a Sparring Tool, This Treatment Is Unusually High!

Tang Long chose Iniesta as his sparring partner for a very specific reason.

Compared to Pirlo, Xavi, and Beckham, who excel at precise long-range passing.

Iniesta's passing style is primarily defined by his short passing and through balls!

Tang Long analyzed his own standing at Inter Milan and realized that if he were to get on the pitch, he would mostly be playing in a supporting role.

Unlike his teammate Kovacic, who can orchestrate the midfield through long balls.

In the AI Smart Cloud Training field, Iniesta stood expressionless, like a heartless robot, and began guiding Tang Long through short-passing drills.

"Host's basic passing skills detected as needing improvement. Please follow me and start with the most fundamental passing drills!"

Iniesta and Tang Long maintained a distance of about 10 meters, running forward slowly in parallel.

With one-touch passing, the ball traveled back and forth between their feet.

"Bang, bang, bang—"

"Bang, bang, bang—"

Only the sound of the ball echoed through the empty training field.

This is the most basic passing drill for professional players, emphasizing maintaining a connection with a teammate while on the move.

Tang Long had practiced this drill countless times during his youth.

Yet, in the cloud training field, he still made several mistakes.

Sometimes, he failed to control the power of his touch, sending the ball too far for Iniesta to reach;

Sometimes, he failed to lead the pass, sending the ball behind the moving Iniesta;

And other times, the ball didn't stay on the ground and bounced up!

These were signs that he hadn't struck the ball with the correct part of his foot.

Don't underestimate this simple passing drill; it highlighted the insufficiency of Tang Long's foundational "childhood training."

Every time Tang Long made a mistake, the tool-man Iniesta would stop to provide guidance.

He even demonstrated the body posture control required for passing in slow motion.

"Tang, don't lock your ankle too tightly; this is a pass, not a shot."

"Yes, that's it, relax a bit. Don't lean your body too far forward!"

Watching this Barca Dream Team starter coach him like a youth academy instructor, Tang Long felt a bit dazed, as if he were dreaming.

This treatment was simply too high-end!

High!

It was exceptionally high!

Subsequently, the two began practicing crossing and swapping positions while passing.

The difficulty continued to increase, with uneven speed changes added to the crossing maneuvers.

When Tang Long opened his eyes again.

It was already 11:30 PM.

The desk he had just tidied up, which was previously bathed in the warm Mediterranean winter sun, was now shrouded in the darkness of the room.

Tang Long stood up to turn on the lights, beginning to reflect on the five-hour passing session he had just completed.

He had to admit, Iniesta truly lived up to his reputation as one of the world's premier passing masters!

Throughout the training, he never made a single mistake, even saving many of Tang Long's wayward passes.

Through his interaction with the Spanish midfielder, Tang Long also discovered many of his own issues, such as the incorrect control of his body posture during passing.

These were problems that had never been corrected in any of Tang Long's previous training sessions!

"Ding!"

"Congratulations to the host for completing the first [AI Smart Cloud Training] session!"

"Sparring player for this session: Iniesta!"

Iniesta, wearing black-rimmed glasses and looking like a teacher, appeared in front of a projector holding a pen.

He pointed to the large PPT screen!

It displayed that during the five-hour passing drill, Tang Long had completed 6,282 passes.

It also detailed the shortcomings and weaknesses Tang Long displayed during the session and provided suggestions for future improvement.

"Training score: 6.5. Looking forward to seeing you in our next training session, bye-bye!"

Like a robot, Iniesta waved goodbye to Tang Long with an expressionless face.

"Ding!"

"Passing attribute increased!"

"Short passing 54--55!"

Although it was only a small one-point increase.

Tang Long was still full of anticipation for this kind of AI Cloud Training.

Being able to have world-class superstars as his sparring partners was the kind of fantasy that could only be realized in a video game.

Furthermore, there was one thing: even though he had completed five hours of training.

Tang Long didn't feel tired at all!

Under normal circumstances, two hours of training would have completely drained all of Tang Long's stamina.

This was also the greatest feature of Cloud Training--

It replenishes stamina and improves abilities, all while being unrestricted by space or time!

If he could improve at least one point a day, that would be 100 points in a hundred days. Coupled with the AI's real-time big data analysis and judgment during matches, Tang Long felt full of confidence about his future at Inter Milan when he thought of this!

It was already midnight.

Tang Long looked out the window at the training base, which resembled a forest, where the tall oak trees rustled under the night breeze.

The moonlight was cold.

In the Mediterranean climate, once the bright sunshine faded at night during winter, there was still a chill that bit into the skin.

Just as Tang Long was about to close the window, a head suddenly poked in!

"What the f*ck!"

Tang Long stepped back in fright, blurting out a curse.

Taking a closer look, the person was Bonazzoli!

Bonazzoli stood outside the window, grinning "hehehe" at Tang Long inside the room.

"Bonazzoli, what are you doing?"

"My dearest Tang, want to go out and have some fun?"

"Fun doing what?"

"Going to the nightclub to pick up blondes!"

Bonazzoli was 17 years old this year, a year younger than Tang Long.

Back at the start of the season, he had been promoted from the youth team to the first team.

However, unlike Tang Long, Bonazzoli had not signed a professional first-team contract.

His personnel status was still with the youth team, and he was frequently moved between the youth team and the first team.

It was only in the last two months that he had stabilized, staying with the first team long-term and moving into the dormitory prepared for him by the first team.

Bonazzoli and Tang Long didn't have much interaction back in the youth team.

But he had a good personality and was very enthusiastic toward everyone; he was the type who loved to be the life of the party.

Tang Long's arrival had made Bonazzoli so excited he could cry!

Wuwuwu~ finally, there's a buddy to hang out with!

Previously, in the entire training base at night, apart from the few staff members on duty, he was the only one living here.

There was no helping it; after all, he didn't have much money in his pocket, and his youth training contract only paid 50,000 euros a year, all-inclusive.

With that kind of money, if he rented a place in Milan, how could he afford to go to nightclubs to pick up girls?

It wasn't worth it; Bonazzoli was very clear about his math.

"It's great that you're here. It's so boring being alone at night. Let's climb over the wall and go out, Tang!"

Bonazzoli didn't stand on ceremony, climbing directly through the window and pulling Tang Long toward the door.

"I'm not going, I want to watch a match."

Tang Long pointed to the laptop on the table.

It was playing the 2011-2012 Serie A season, Round 2, Juventus versus Chievo.

"Watch a match? What match? I'll take you to the nightclub, that's also watching balls—balls even bigger than a football! Hurry up and come with me!"

"Climbing over the wall this late, aren't you afraid of breaking your leg? Be careful."

"Are you really 18? Why are you like those 30 or 40-year-old fuddy-duddies, dragging your feet? Don't you like Italian women?"

"No, you go if you want to. I really need to watch this match."

Tang Long paused and teased him, "The girls have already drained you dry; do you still want to sign that first-team contract or not?"

This hit Bonazzoli right where it hurt!

He was, after all, hailed as a rising star of the Italian youth forward line!

The starting center-forward for this generation of the Italy national youth team.

However, he had been with the first team for half a year now and still hadn't signed a first-team contract.

Yet Tang Long, who had only arrived a few days ago, had beaten him to it!

Feeling like he had been outdone, Bonazzoli made a gesture as if to punch Tang Long, then grumbled and cursed as he climbed back out through the window.

Before leaving, he didn't forget to intentionally leave a footprint on the snow-white wall.

Tang Long smiled helplessly.

He returned to his desk and began watching his match footage.

Ever since he completed the task of watching 1,000 match videos last time.

The system had released a new feeding task to watch 500 full matches.

But this time, Tang Long's choices were more targeted.

He decided to finish watching 500 Serie A matches.

After all, the style of play in Serie A was quite different from other leagues and international tournaments.

Two-thirty in the morning.

Bonazzoli returned to the base, drunk.

As he swayed past Tang Long's dormitory, he noticed the light in the window was still on.

Reeking of alcohol, he muttered:

"This, this kid must be crazy. He doesn't like Italian girls, he just, just likes watching matches. Madman, hic—yeah, madman, he's just a madman!"